Price : Too low to display
FWG114P PRO SAFE 802.11G Wireless FW with USB
This review is from : NETGEAR FWG114P ProSafe 802.11g Wireless VPN Firewall 4-Port 10/100 Switch with USB Server
Good Home Office Firewall . I've applied the new flash upgrade, and performance is still quite good. Most of my comments from January still apply. Setup is quick, Citrix & terminal services work without modification, and I can connect to my main office via Cisco VPN client. Games are still working too.As with most vendors, I suspect you'll have better compatibility if you use a Netgear WiFi NIC with this unit. I can get it to work with a Cisco Aironet NIC, but I cannot get WPA encryption to work. WEP (for what it's worth) works, but I'll probably have to spring for the corresponding Netgear NIC if I want to move to WPA.The print server took a hit with the flash upgrade, however. Now it will only work as long as the PCs using it never reboot. If they do, you lose the connection to the print server until the firewall is rebooted. Tech support has been, um, less than helpful in resolving the issue. For that reason, my rating still stands at 4 stars. I strongly recommend you check the printer compatibility list on Netgear's site before you count on this as a print server.A couple of other notes: - The firewall is solid. I'm a networking guy, and I've tried to hack my way in a couple of times. Nothing's perfect, but this is a good solution in the home or very small business market. The worst I've been able to do against this unit is a denial of service, which disabled the Internet connection to my home network until I rebooted the unit. - If you plan to use MSN Messenger 6.2 and/or Windows XP's Remote Assistance, you'll need to enable UPnP on this unit, which is a bit annoying, but more of a Microsoft issue. - The e-mail logging is VASTLY improved over that of the previous flash. My logs are much more manageable, and the number of false-positive security alert messages is minimal. - You can now create up to two remote access VPN tunnels with the new flash. I tried it and it works, although as a home user I can't imagine ever needing that feature. Difficult to set up, though, so unless you have a solid understanding of IPSEC VPN protocols, good luck.Still, I believe this is a good unit for a home office. For me, combining the functions of print server, wireless access point, and hardware firewall into a single device make it worth the price.
Good Home Office Firewall . I've applied the new flash upgrade, and performance is still quite good. Most of my comments from January still apply. Setup is quick, Citrix & terminal services work without modification, and I can connect to my main office via Cisco VPN client. Games are still working too.As with most vendors, I suspect you'll have better compatibility if you use a Netgear WiFi NIC with this unit. I can get it to work with a Cisco Aironet NIC, but I cannot get WPA encryption to work. WEP (for what it's worth) works, but I'll probably have to spring for the corresponding Netgear NIC if I want to move to WPA.The print server took a hit with the flash upgrade, however. Now it will only work as long as the PCs using it never reboot. If they do, you lose the connection to the print server until the firewall is rebooted. Tech support has been, um, less than helpful in resolving the issue. For that reason, my rating still stands at 4 stars. I strongly recommend you check the printer compatibility list on Netgear's site before you count on this as a print server.A couple of other notes: - The firewall is solid. I'm a networking guy, and I've tried to hack my way in a couple of times. Nothing's perfect, but this is a good solution in the home or very small business market. The worst I've been able to do against this unit is a denial of service, which disabled the Internet connection to my home network until I rebooted the unit. - If you plan to use MSN Messenger 6.2 and/or Windows XP's Remote Assistance, you'll need to enable UPnP on this unit, which is a bit annoying, but more of a Microsoft issue. - The e-mail logging is VASTLY improved over that of the previous flash. My logs are much more manageable, and the number of false-positive security alert messages is minimal. - You can now create up to two remote access VPN tunnels with the new flash. I tried it and it works, although as a home user I can't imagine ever needing that feature. Difficult to set up, though, so unless you have a solid understanding of IPSEC VPN protocols, good luck.Still, I believe this is a good unit for a home office. For me, combining the functions of print server, wireless access point, and hardware firewall into a single device make it worth the price.
NETGEAR FWG114P ProSafe 802.11g Wireless VPN Firewall 4-Port 10/100 Switch with USB Server Reviews
Better now that there is a firmware upgrade . Back in November, I tried version 1 of this product. And I wrote a review saying that many of its features just did not work.In addition I wrote that Netgear tech support never responded to any of my email requests for support, and that was six months ago. Their website said allow one day.Anyway, they have now released a firmware update. And all the problems I previously complained about are gone now. For example, it now works with Citrix and the error messages are now in "better" EnglishProduct seems to work fine out of the box. No complaints. I give it 4 stars and not 5 because the print server part of this product is pretty useless unless you happen one of the few printers it supports. And because of their continued horrible tech support.
Better now that there is a firmware upgrade . Back in November, I tried version 1 of this product. And I wrote a review saying that many of its features just did not work.In addition I wrote that Netgear tech support never responded to any of my email requests for support, and that was six months ago. Their website said allow one day.Anyway, they have now released a firmware update. And all the problems I previously complained about are gone now. For example, it now works with Citrix and the error messages are now in "better" EnglishProduct seems to work fine out of the box. No complaints. I give it 4 stars and not 5 because the print server part of this product is pretty useless unless you happen one of the few printers it supports. And because of their continued horrible tech support.
NETGEAR FWG114P ProSafe 802.11g Wireless VPN Firewall 4-Port 10/100 Switch with USB Server Opinions
great router if you need to connect via a serial modem . I use this router to serve up a wireless connection via a serial modem. Unless you need to connect to the Internet through a serial modem or need a modem as a backup connection you can save money with a cheaper router. The dial-on-demand feature works well and I've only had to reboot this router a couple of times. I get a strong signal and the router itself is in what feels like a sturdy metal case.
If you are among the 5 of us out there still using dial-up and are tired of being tied to a phone cord I recommend this router. Be sure to visit the manufacturers web site to see what serial modems are supported. Mine wasn't on the list and it still worked but I may have gotten lucky.
great router if you need to connect via a serial modem . I use this router to serve up a wireless connection via a serial modem. Unless you need to connect to the Internet through a serial modem or need a modem as a backup connection you can save money with a cheaper router. The dial-on-demand feature works well and I've only had to reboot this router a couple of times. I get a strong signal and the router itself is in what feels like a sturdy metal case.
If you are among the 5 of us out there still using dial-up and are tired of being tied to a phone cord I recommend this router. Be sure to visit the manufacturers web site to see what serial modems are supported. Mine wasn't on the list and it still worked but I may have gotten lucky.
Finally have it working great!! . I am on my 3rd RMA with this device. I really love the functionality of this firewall, thus all of the RMA's. The main issue I was experiencing, was the wireless conneciton. The speed of the connection would fluctuate between 54Mbps and 1Mbps. And I would randomally get disconnected for some time until it would reconnect. I also am running the higest security settings one can run. Data encryption is WPA2-PSK. I have done some extensive research as to what could be causing this. Tech support is very poor. When you know more about their product then they do, do yourself a favor, and either demand for an RMA, or hang up and fix it yourself. Well, I got fed up and I did exactly that! I found some rumors that heat is causing the wireless issues. I cracked open the firewall and found that the broadcom IC(Wireless) was very hot at idle. When I was streaming video it got hotter. Well, that makes sense. Sad thing is that there are no heatsinks on it. I went to the store and purchased a VGA heatsink and slapped it on there. It runs much cooler, and my speed is stable. Best thing is that I don't have the disconnects as often. I generally get 1 disconnect/week. When I do experience them, I go into my site monitoring software, and I find that my firewall is still active and has a strong signal. I think it has to do with my wireless card in my laptop. It's a Dell, with the built-in WiFi. I'm sure I can drop down to WPA-PSK to help out, but I like the heightened security.
My two cents . I have been using Netgear products for several years, and the FWG114P for over a year. I have about 20 of these in the field. They operate in extreme weather conditions (encased in polystyrene) as well as offices. It is currently my overall router of choice.
PROS
-Great all around router for the money
-Easy to configure with lots of options
-DHCP server is rock solid
-Rubber Ducky antenna is removable with standard SMA connector
-Supports VPN
-Supports WEP and WPA
-Works extremely well with wireless broadband internet
CONS
-Need to upgrade to latest version of software (1.07) if it's not already on there
-Versions 1.03 and earlier have internet disconnect problems
-Doesn't seem to play well with all versions of PPPoE (will drop internet connections even at latest version of software).
-Have had some compatibility problems when using site blocking
-Needs to be able to block by IP as well as site name/text strings
Overall I am very pleased with this router, although it doesn't seem to work in 100% of the situations. I'm not sure any of them do, actually.
PROS
-Great all around router for the money
-Easy to configure with lots of options
-DHCP server is rock solid
-Rubber Ducky antenna is removable with standard SMA connector
-Supports VPN
-Supports WEP and WPA
-Works extremely well with wireless broadband internet
CONS
-Need to upgrade to latest version of software (1.07) if it's not already on there
-Versions 1.03 and earlier have internet disconnect problems
-Doesn't seem to play well with all versions of PPPoE (will drop internet connections even at latest version of software).
-Have had some compatibility problems when using site blocking
-Needs to be able to block by IP as well as site name/text strings
Overall I am very pleased with this router, although it doesn't seem to work in 100% of the situations. I'm not sure any of them do, actually.
Works well but becoming obsolete . The FWG114P has been the center of my family's network for 5-6 years. I purchased it specifically for the printserver feature. After several years, we have replaced our PCs and now use Vista. The "install" CD will not install on our 64-bit machine. Although the software does work on Vista 32-bit, I found (after much research) that the printer port may be configured without any software at all. It's a simple and widely available port option on both Mac and PC called LPR and works well. The only flaw to a printserver like this is that any two-way communication is dead. No ink level warnings, etc. can be sent from the printer to the computer. Likewise, you can't scan from a multifunction.
As for obsolescence:
Although wireless b/g is more than enough speed for sharing a DSL connection, apparently wireless n is the new defacto standard. Also, many reasonably priced inkjet printers already have a cat5 jack on the back, so you may not even need the printserver feature at all.
Reliability:
My only reason for needing to replace this router is that the power jack has gone bad. Nudging the low voltage plug causes it to blink out and restart. I could probably buy a new jack and solder it on, but why risk ruining the whole thing? Its had its run and now it's old. Coincidentally, the power jack is failing due to years of manually resetting by unplugging the low voltage cord from the unit. The router only causes trouble when a user tries to print without paper or on low ink. The printer goes haywire when this happens and, once the ink or paper is restored, it prints out page after page of garbage. The only way to fix this is to pull power to both router and printer, plug in the printer, then plug in the router. This is the nature of electronics, I guess. I would suggest adding an inline switch to the low voltage line instead of pulling the plug, as pulling out the cord each time makes a tiny spark and will eventually oxidize the contacts.
All in all, excellent workhorse but could handle printer errors better.
As for obsolescence:
Although wireless b/g is more than enough speed for sharing a DSL connection, apparently wireless n is the new defacto standard. Also, many reasonably priced inkjet printers already have a cat5 jack on the back, so you may not even need the printserver feature at all.
Reliability:
My only reason for needing to replace this router is that the power jack has gone bad. Nudging the low voltage plug causes it to blink out and restart. I could probably buy a new jack and solder it on, but why risk ruining the whole thing? Its had its run and now it's old. Coincidentally, the power jack is failing due to years of manually resetting by unplugging the low voltage cord from the unit. The router only causes trouble when a user tries to print without paper or on low ink. The printer goes haywire when this happens and, once the ink or paper is restored, it prints out page after page of garbage. The only way to fix this is to pull power to both router and printer, plug in the printer, then plug in the router. This is the nature of electronics, I guess. I would suggest adding an inline switch to the low voltage line instead of pulling the plug, as pulling out the cord each time makes a tiny spark and will eventually oxidize the contacts.
All in all, excellent workhorse but could handle printer errors better.
Cons Review
Print Server does not support Multifunction Printers . I recently upgraded from the WGR614 to this. From a router and wireless standpoint, this unit is MUCH better than the previous Netgear routers I had. The pretty silver units are nice for consumers, but I needed more options and more range. This unit does it all.However, and it is a BIG however, the Print Server (which was the main reason to spring for the total upgrade) does not support my HP PSC 2410 nor my EPSON Stylus CX5200. Those two things in themselves make it impossible for me to recommend the router overall. None of the Netgear products support this, and it makes no sense, since most people buy small multifunctions for their homes now.
Didn't work for me . I purchased this router to replace my Netgear FR314 (the features are similar, but this router has wireless).
After installing it, I could only get about 32Kbps download bandwidth from the internet (the FR314 gets about 3Mbps down). I called tech support. For the next few frustrating hours they walked me through all kinds of "stab-in-the-dark" settings changes. Nothing helped. They told me this router is defective and to return it. I got a new one and it had the same problem as well.
I don't know what the issue is, but their tech support and knowledge base were completely useless. This router just didn't work. Luckily I still have my FR314 and it works great.
If you buy this router and have issues, just do the following in this order:
1. Reboot the router
2. Adjust the MTU up or down by a few hundred
3. Reboot everything (PCs, cable modems, etc)
4. Upgrade the firmware
5. Do a factory reset (put a paperclip in the hole in the back of the unit)
6. Randomly change other settings and see what happens
7. Try to find a reason to blame your ISP, network configuration, or PC
8. Declare the router defective
If you do this, you will save a few hours on the phone with their clueless tech support because that is all they know how to do.
After installing it, I could only get about 32Kbps download bandwidth from the internet (the FR314 gets about 3Mbps down). I called tech support. For the next few frustrating hours they walked me through all kinds of "stab-in-the-dark" settings changes. Nothing helped. They told me this router is defective and to return it. I got a new one and it had the same problem as well.
I don't know what the issue is, but their tech support and knowledge base were completely useless. This router just didn't work. Luckily I still have my FR314 and it works great.
If you buy this router and have issues, just do the following in this order:
1. Reboot the router
2. Adjust the MTU up or down by a few hundred
3. Reboot everything (PCs, cable modems, etc)
4. Upgrade the firmware
5. Do a factory reset (put a paperclip in the hole in the back of the unit)
6. Randomly change other settings and see what happens
7. Try to find a reason to blame your ISP, network configuration, or PC
8. Declare the router defective
If you do this, you will save a few hours on the phone with their clueless tech support because that is all they know how to do.
Worst Netgear product I've ever owned . I read all of the reviews before I bought this and figured that surely Netgear would fix all the problems that were mentioned. I was incredibly wrong. The now two year old problem of constantly dropping WAN connection is still prevalent. I had an FWG114PV2 and I upgraded it to the latest firmware and had no problems at all for about 2 hours. Then I had to reboot the router every 5 minutes for an hour. Then it went up a bit more to 15-20 minutes each hour and then back to around 5. The longest it ever held connection was a full 18 hours which I thought was sheer magic. During the longest period of connectivity was my heaviest use as well. Both my girlfriend and I work from home and we simply pounded the router with data due to the nature of our jobs. I remember only have Pidgin. PuTTY, and Firefox with 3 tabs open during nearly 6 hours of random WAN drops. I wasn't doing anything special if I was doing anything at all. Most traffic was simple IMing and SSH traffic and nothing more.
After that debacle, I downgraded to firmware 1.2_04 (second newest, nearly a year old at this point) and it was no better. I did the same testing as before: Pidgin, PuTTY, Firefox. The connection drops were less frequent but still happened multiple times an hour. At that point, I was completely fed up and promptly filled out an Amazon return. In total, I had this piece of junk for 1 week including the UPS pick-up to my apartment. It was only in use for 2 days and I didn't even get to test out the print server functionality but I too figured that it wouldn't work worth what this thing costs.
As a replacement, I dusted off my old WRT54GL that FON sent me nearly three years ago and flashed it with dd-wrt. Since then, the router has been rebooted two times by me and only had a dropped WAN connection once...when my DHCP lease renewed itself.
I gave this piece of junk 2 stars simply because the case is made of metal and not cheap plastic like the rest of consumer-level networking products.
After that debacle, I downgraded to firmware 1.2_04 (second newest, nearly a year old at this point) and it was no better. I did the same testing as before: Pidgin, PuTTY, Firefox. The connection drops were less frequent but still happened multiple times an hour. At that point, I was completely fed up and promptly filled out an Amazon return. In total, I had this piece of junk for 1 week including the UPS pick-up to my apartment. It was only in use for 2 days and I didn't even get to test out the print server functionality but I too figured that it wouldn't work worth what this thing costs.
As a replacement, I dusted off my old WRT54GL that FON sent me nearly three years ago and flashed it with dd-wrt. Since then, the router has been rebooted two times by me and only had a dropped WAN connection once...when my DHCP lease renewed itself.
I gave this piece of junk 2 stars simply because the case is made of metal and not cheap plastic like the rest of consumer-level networking products.
poor printer compatibility . I would like to comment on a few models of printers I have tested. Unboxed off the shelf, I tested this unit's print server capability and found it incompatible with all 3 tested models:
- HP OfficeJet K60
- HP DeskJet 3650
- HP DeskJet 1220C
I then upgraded the firmware and retested the print server capability. The HP DeskJet 1220C is now supported.
FYI to new buyers, be sure to check the printer compatibility list before purchasing this product if you plan on utilizing the print server function.
[...]
- HP OfficeJet K60
- HP DeskJet 3650
- HP DeskJet 1220C
I then upgraded the firmware and retested the print server capability. The HP DeskJet 1220C is now supported.
FYI to new buyers, be sure to check the printer compatibility list before purchasing this product if you plan on utilizing the print server function.
[...]
Product Image
Feature NETGEAR FWG114P ProSafe 802.11g Wireless VPN Firewall 4-Port 10/100 Switch with USB Server
- Router provides wired and 802.11g wireless network connections
- Built-in USB print server allows multiple users to share a single printer
- Business-class security includes SPI firewall and an Intrusion Detection System
- Two dedicated VPN tunnels for secure data transmission
- Device measures 7.4 x 1.25 x 4.9 inches (WxHxD)
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Product Details
EAN : 0606449029819UPC : 606449029819
MPN : FWG114PNA
Brand : Netgear
Weight : 4 pounds
Height : 3 inches
Length : 11 inches
Width : 10 inches
Binding : Personal Computers
ItemPartNumber : FWG114PNA
Manufacturer : Netgear
Model : FWG114P
Platform : No Operating System
Publisher : Netgear
SKU : DHFWG114PNA
Studio : Netgear
Where To Buy
You can buy NETGEAR FWG114P ProSafe 802.11g Wireless VPN Firewall 4-Port 10/100 Switch with USB Server on Amazon . Click here to Read More
